Edwards To Address State Spending In A ‘Very Sobering’ Address Tuesday

The joy of Louisiana politics is choosing what side you believe is right and or actually telling the truth. In the world of political budgets there seems to be a lot of wiggle room. We just reported that State Treasurer John Kennedy is speculating the state could actually see a budget surplus at the end of this fiscal year.

Meanwhile the man who appears to be diametrically opposed to everything John Kennedy says, Governor John Bel Edwards, is about to address legislators with what he is calling a very sobering statement on the state of the state's spending.

Seven hundred fifty million dollars remains an awful lot of money, and it’s a big percentage of what we have in terms of state general funds in the state of Louisiana.

While cuts in spending seem like a sound fiscal idea, the problem comes with where the spending cuts can be made. If you were thinking that the cuts would come from higher education, TOPS,healthcare, social services, and other vital programs you'd be correct.

What you’re going to see Tuesday is not a budget proposal that resembles anything that I want to do. It’s a budget proposal that responds to my constitutional obligation to deliver a balanced budget.

Edwards' comments, reported by the Louisiana Radio Network, are based on what he believes the state must to do to further the revenue generation and spending cuts that were recently passed by the special session of the legislature.